Education Department delays loan rules for for-profit colleges

The Education Department said Tuesday that it has delayed a decision on the most controversial part of proposed new student-aid regulations — the treatment of for-profit college programs whose graduates do not earn enough to repay their loans. While a package of proposed new student-aid regulations was released Tuesday, a department official said no decision had been reached about what debt-to-income ratio would make for-profit programs ineligible for federal aid. In the original draft of the gainful-employment rules released this year, the department suggested cutting off federal aid to programs whose graduates could not repay their student loans in 10 years with 8 percent of the income.

San Francisco

Phone retailers must list radiation

Imposing roughly the same cautionary standards for cell phones as for fatty food or sugary soda, San Francisco voted Tuesday to require all retailers to display the amount of radiation each phone emits. The law — believed to be the first of its kind — came despite a lack of conclusive evidence showing that the devices are dangerous and amid opposition from the wireless telephone industry, which views the labeling ordinance as a potential business-killing precedent. The administration of Mayor Gavin Newsom called the vote a major victory for cell phone shoppers' right to know.

Elsewhere

Maine: A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives SWAT team attempting to arrest two members of the American Outlaw Association motorcycle gang shot and killed one of them in an early morning gunfight in Old Orchard Beach Tuesday.

New York: Members of the small Shinnecock Indian tribe on Long Island were celebrating Tuesday after receiving notification from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs that it has been formally recognized as a tribe.

Oklahoma City: Record-breaking rainfall and ensuing flooding in Oklahoma led to at least one death, officials said Tuesday, a day after several dramatic rescues of people who took to treetops and roofs to escape swift-moving waters.